Hanley Ramirez not starting today, Donnie Murphy at short for Florida Marlins

Manager Edwin Rodriguez had said he planned to let All Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez work his way out of a slump. Edwin also said he wanted to give Donnie Murphy a start one of these days.

Murphy’s playing shortstop today and Hanley is out of the starting lineup in the Marlins’ series finale against the Rockies.

“His bat is not the same,” Rodriguez said about Ramirez.
Hanley, who hasn’t been happy with his season, is 4-for-23 on the homestand with one RBI. He hasn’t had an extra-base hit since July 2.

Edwin said he thinks a day off will help Ramirez, whom the Marlins will depend on with an important stretch of games coming up. The first-place Braves arrive on Friday before Florida’s trip starting Monday to San Francisco and San Diego.

“We need his offense,” Rodriguez said.

Edwin hinted yesterday that he wanted to reward Murphy with a start for his game-winning home run Monday with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

“He has sure hands at shortstop. I don’t think we’ll miss much defensively,” he said.

No Sunday starter yet
Rodriguez said the team wants to see how the bullpen is used in the next two days before determining a starting pitcher for Sunday.

He said Chris Volstad is still a candidate, even though Volstad threw 70 pitches last night. If Volstad did start Sunday, he’d do so on short rest.

Gaby Sanchez a catcher?
Not sure if any of you caught it, but Gaby Sanchez got some love on ESPN last night. During a quick review of Marlins highilghts, Baseball Tonight showed Gaby’s three-run home run.

But the commentator — I forgot who it was — opened the segment by saying, “National League Rookie of the Year Gaby Sanchez…”

Gaby is the Marlins’ emergency third-string catcher, a position he played early in his minor league career and at the University of Miami.

In fact, Sanchez put on catcher’s gear and was ready to enter the game Tuesday night after Brett Hayes took two foul tips off his wrist in the seventh inning. Hayes had entered the game in the sixth inning to spell Ronny Paulino.